Pipeline structures used in the oil and gas industry typically comprise a series of sections of pipe that are welded together. In operation, portions of the pipeline including the weld joints are periodically inspected to monitor the structural integrity of the pipeline.
Inspection of weld joints is commonly performed by a radiographic technician that images each joint in the field using a digital radiography inspection device so that the images can be inspected to monitor the integrity of respective joints. The images can also be inspected to ensure compliance with inspection requirements, namely, to verify that the technician inspected each joint in the pipeline structure. Because the inspection process can be arduous, a problem in the art is that technicians might be tempted to skip joints in order to complete the inspection more quickly. As such, a radiographic technician might present images of the same joint multiple times for structural analysis and compliance review, as if they were different joints.
Existing methods for addressing this problem of technicians spoofing inspection images include applying letters near each weld joint, either by painting the letter directly onto the pipe surface or applying a letter sticker. The letters can be applied using a contrast material so that the letter appears in the images captured using the inspection device. The imagery and the letters therein can thus be inspected to differentiate between weld joints and verify compliance. However, this system and approach by itself does not prevent tampering because the radiographic technician can digitally replace the letters in the images or replace the physical stickers provided near the weld joints.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for labeling weld joints of a pipeline structure in a manner that 1) is visually revealed in the output of the inspection device (e.g., scatters x-ray photos so the label is shown in the digital radiographic image of the pipe joint); 2) cannot be separated from the joint and replaced by another label; and 3) uses an information encoding methodology that is intelligible to a radiographic technician and, thus, cannot be spoofed easily.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.